Eureka - St. Louis - Glen Carbon Tornado 0f 2022
The Eureka - St. Louis - Glen Carbon Tornado''' '''of 2022 was a large and extremely dangerous EF5 tornado that struck the city of St. Louis, Missouri on May 3rd 2022. The multi-vortex tornado caused massive damage to the city of St. Louis and is considered one of the deadliest tornadoes in Missouri and US history. The tornado caused over 9.5 Billion dollars worth of damage, killed 688, and injured 5800 others. The death toll is considered to be the second highest in US history. Touchdown in Eureka A large rotating wall cloud had been seen as far west as Robertsville by trained spotters. Radar was showing signs of indicated rotation on an abnormally large super-cell at 5:05PM. By 5:12 a funnel cloud was reported over the city of Eureka Missouri. The funnel made connection with the ground as a strong drill-bit tornado in the backyard of a house on Palisades Ridge Court at 5:15, just 3 minutes later. The tornado had an estimated forward speed of nearly 70MPH, one of the fastest on record as it spun through the city doing incredibly narrow EF4 damage along The Legends Parkway and Augustine Road. 12 Homes in Eureka Springs were destroyed in a matter of 20 seconds and 2 people were severely injured. Extreme damage in Suburban St. Louis The Tornado continued alongside I44 and entered the western Suburbs of St. Louis at Rockwood Summit HIgh School, which took a direct hit. Luckily the school was closed and no injuries were reported in this area, but several well built structures were demolished by EF4 strength winds. Stanton Elementary School was next. Just a few moments later, 2 janitors and a teacher working late were killed as the tornado struck the school. Strong EF4 damage was noted through the north end of Fenton and Suburban areas of Sunset Hills. Nearly 50 people were killed in this area as the tornado began to exhibit violent motion with winds approaching 250 MPH. Truman Elementary, St Justin Martyr Catholic, Long Elementary, and Southview School were all 4 struck head on and was demolished in seconds. No deaths were reported in the schools, but the surrounding neighborhood 22 people were found killed in their homes. It had become clear that the tornado was heading directly for the most urban parts of St. Louis, and several local media outlets were scrambling to warn residents of the fast approaching storm. When the tornado Entered Grantwood Village and Afton, the wind speeds were logged at 299 MPH, a swath of destruction through both communities left 78 people dead. St Dominic Savio Campus was the 6th school to be demolished at 5:45 PM, and then Bishop DuBourg High School at 5:48. In this neighborhood, an additional 20 bodies were found. The death toll had already reached 173 people in St. Louis Hills. Between Hampton Ave, and Kingshighway winds were close to 315 MPH. Hundreds of closely packed row houses were stripped from their foundations and extreme ground scouring was noted in the area. 200 casualties were found in this area. The roof of Buder Elemetary School was found laying on top of Kingshigway a little over half a mile away. The swirling multi-vortex of debris tore through 1.5 miles of Tower Grove South, killing an additional 89 people before crossing the eastern end of Tower Grove park, stripping trees from the ground and scouring the ground to a depth of 3 feet. Not a single structure was left standing around Mann School, the 8th school to be destroyed. 18 people taking shelter were found dead in the school. The tornado at it's full intensity jogged northwards and temporarily slowed to 40MPH chewing through the residential neighborhood of Shaw between Tower Grove Ave and South Grand Blvd, south of I44. It then crossed I44 just west of Compton Avenue and continued it's northeastern path towards downtown. thousands of homes in this area were flattened and an estimated 60-75 people were killed. The historic neighborhood of Lafayette Square with it's 150 year old stately Victorian mansions was leveled and every tree in Lafayette park was debarked. Winds were clocked at nearly 320 MPH at the Ameren Missouri building. The structure's entire outer casing was stripped leaving only a shell. The tornado unfortunately hit during a shift change and 18 people were killed in the parking lot. Destruction of Downtown St. Louis The tornado crossed I64 into Downtown St. Louis at a little over a mile wide, between 7th street and Union Station. Union Station experienced EF2 winds, tearing the roofing from the building. The scoreboard was ripped from Busch Stadium and blown into the Mississippi River. Luckily along Tucker Blvd, most people had received proper warning and had taken proper cover. The destruction along Tucker was similar to a nuclear bomb, with the St. Louis police academy building collapsing to the ground. The Us Attorney's office building took a direct hit, gutting the building on every floor. The same was true of the AT&T center. As the tornado entered downtown a river of glass sliced through anything soft like butter. multiple structure collapses took place and one metropolitan square was damaged to the point of near collapse. Several cars on I44 where thrown into Laclede's landing and the historical district was demolished as the tornado crossed the Mississippi River. Martin Luther King Bridge experied a total collapse killing several motorists and the western landing of Eads Bridge faced a similar collapse. 110 People were killed in the streets downtown from flying glass and debris, bringing the total casualties on the Missouri side to 647 dead. Illinois Side The tornado crossed the Mississippi into Illinois at 6:15 PM in a wooded area west of Packers Ave and I70. Although the tornado had rapidly weakened to EF3 strength through this area a large barge on the eastern Bank of the river was still thrown 200 feet into a clearing due to momentum. It then crossed the Gateway Motorsports Park, destroying the northern half of the stands and then continued in a northeastward direction across Horseshoe Lake. Homes along Arlington Drive, northwest of Collinsville, had their roofs blown off and the golf course there sustained considerable damage. The tornado strengthened one last time as the storm cycled in to a mile and a half wide Ef4 tornado through the city of Glen Carbon, flattening many homes and killing 40 additional people. 25 of which were sheltering in the Glen Carbon elementary school. 8 people were killed in the Dollar General on W. Main Street, after they were caught off guard by the huge storm, and the remainder were killed in their homes. At Troy road and I270 the tornado began to rope out. The winds were still considerable doing minor damage to homes and trees along Augusta Drive before dissipating completely in a field right before Ridge View Rd. Aftermath Category:Tornadoes Category:F5/EF5 Tornadoes Category:Violent Tornadoes Category:Catastrophic Tornadoes Category:Missouri Tornadoes Category:Illinois Tornadoes